Organic all natural livestock?

[NorTracNY]

I am a wannabe farmer. I do a garden and have chickens (for egg production) and what not. I keep toying with the idea of raising a cow for meat. I'm not sure how to get started or all the particulars, but will do some research.

One question for you real cattle farmers though; what makes the best tasting beef? I'm assuming breed comes into play and then the feed based on what limited knowledge I have.

Let's say I'm wanting to raise a cow every so often for meat; what breed should I be looking at and what feed should I be trying to put it on for the delicious factor? Is it just a certain feed for their last 6 months or what?

I think everyone's taste are different. I prefer a health animal that is only grassfed for quality of the meat. Clearly lots of things can affect taste like feed, breed, age, hang time, method of slaughter...

 

[fishheadbob]

I am a wannabe farmer. I do a garden and have chickens (for egg production) and what not. I keep toying with the idea of raising a cow for meat. I'm not sure how to get started or all the particulars, but will do some research.

One question for you real cattle farmers though; what makes the best tasting beef? I'm assuming breed comes into play and then the feed based on what limited knowledge I have.

Let's say I'm wanting to raise a cow every so often for meat; what breed should I be looking at and what feed should I be trying to put it on for the delicious factor? Is it just a certain feed for their last 6 months or what?

My butcher for 45 years and I are of the opinion that they all will taste the same when the hide is off...IF... they were fed properly. Not everybody has the experience or patience necessary to get them to where they ought to be. But some breeds take longer to reach a decent finishing size. In cold upstate N.Y., a big dairy state, it's easy to get Holstein dairy bulls (make them steers quickly) which are a larger breed and will eventually finish OK. Realistically most dairy males wind up as veal. They were bred for milk production, not for marbling so it will take more grain and time to reach tastiness.
In my part of the country the smaller beef breeds like Angus or Hereford, cows originally from colder climates, are the primary beef breeds as they are smaller animals, do well on pasture, are ready to finish sooner, etc.. I don't know for sure which breeds like Simmental, Longhorns, whatever do well in the sunny south. Keep your eyes open and watch what the real farmers grow around you, that's the breed that does best for them, and should be the easiest to find feeder* calves.
Most importantly do a lot of reading and learning. It's not an easy project, there's lots of mistakes to be made, and you really don't want to wind up with a freezer full of beef that makes you want to be a vegetarian.

* a feeder is maybe 6 months old and weans around 500 pounds from a good grower. Younger smaller calves can get you into milk replacer.

 

[crackerjack222]

I wonder how many of those folks who insist on "all natural", ie no antibiotics, no hormones, etc have themselves used antibiotics to help cure an illness or vaccine to prevent an illness.

 

[M5farms]

IMO a Jersey or jersey/ beef is the best Meat . I raise Angus / brangus to sell but when I feed one out Its a jersey x. takes about 18mths and They are on grass hay and grain they marble very well. Now I want my beef when Im eating it bloody. I only cook a steak for 20 seconds. I want it marbled if I want grass fed extra lean I will eat deer. even deer meat taste better when the acorn crop is abundant.

 

[M5farms]

I wonder how many of those folks who insist on "all natural", ie no antibiotics, no hormones, etc have themselves used antibiotics to help cure an illness or vaccine to prevent an illness.

all the ones that are alive now , the ones that insisted on nothing are dead .

 

[kevin37b]

This ******** will never stop . FLU shot , Newborn human , animals , crops ,water , etc will always need help . This is typical internet hype ./

 

[ning]

If you constantly feed antibiotics, in short order the bacteria will evolve (you know evolution is real, right?) and become immune to those antibiotics.

You don't eat antibiotics all the time, and you don't feed your cat and dog antibiotics all the time, because they're generally bad for you - they're supposed to be used to treat an illness, not prophylactically, and keep doing it the factory way and pretty soon you'll have diseases you can't treat with antibiotics at all.

Enjoy.

 

[M5farms]

If you constantly feed antibiotics, in short order the bacteria will evolve (you know evolution is real, right?) and become immune to those antibiotics.

You don't eat antibiotics all the time, and you don't feed your cat and dog antibiotics all the time, because they're generally bad for you - they're supposed to be used to treat an illness, not prophylactically, and keep doing it the factory way and pretty soon you'll have diseases you can't treat with antibiotics at all.

Enjoy.

and your proof that all animals are fed antibiotics every day is where ??

 

[tcreeley]

and your proof that all animals are fed antibiotics every day is where ??

Chickens- it is in the daily feed mix, unless you go looking to buy it without the antibiotic.

Re organic- buy it if you want, don't if you don't want to. The FDA/USDA etc may say it is safe, but then we have lobbyists who pay big bucks for them to talk the way they do. Eat and drink all of the chemicals you want. Fine with me.

But I want honest labeling, so I can decide for myself. ..... Tells you something when the chemical crap makes the guys working with it sick.
Just common sense. When money is involved, it always goes with the dollar. The food of today is not the food I grew up with.

 

[KYErik]

Are "organic" livestock vaccinated for diseases? Many vaccines are made by GMO's. We only raise/sell about 40 feeder calves per year. About 3 years ago we had a bad outbreak of pinkeye (a couple of calves with one ulcerated eye and one calf ended up blind in both eyes). That is the last time we have used antibiotics.

What do organic producers do when they have an animal with a serious but treatable bacterial disease? Treat it with antibiotics, or slaughter it?